Nokia N97 Mini Gets FCC Approval

The FCC has signed off on the Nokia N97 Mini, an important hurdle before this upcoming S60 smartphone can be released -- or even used -- in the U.S.

This will be a scaled down, less-expensive version of Nokia's current flagship smartphone.

When it was announced early this month, this company said this device would have support for the N. American version of 3G, and the FCC has confirmed this.

As this N97 Mini has already been officially unveiled, Nokia did not ask this government agency to hold back any of the documents in its filing. This means those who are interested can download the user manual (PDF) if they wish.

Coming Soon?
Nokia has approval to release this smartphone in the U.S., but there still has been no word on when this is going to happen.

The European debut is scheduled for October.

Nokia has not had much success getting most of its smartphones offered by U.S. carriers, and so far there haven't been any hints that the N97 Mini will be any different. Still, it will almost certainly be sold unlocked directly to the public.

An Overview of the Nokia N97 Mini
The N97 Mini will have the same general "slide-and-tilt" design as its slightly bigger brother, and include a 3.2-inch touchscreen with a resolution of 640 x 360 pixels. The N97 has a 3.5-inch display at that same resolution.

The Mini will also have a QWERTY keyboard, but will skip the D-pad, instead depending on the touchscreen.

The upcoming model will have considerably less internal storage, 8 GB vs. 32 GB, but will still include a microSD memory card slot.

It will be a quad-band GSM phone with HSDPA 3G, and will also have Wi/Fi b/g.

Source: FCC

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